CD has begun testing a prototype of a modernised accessible carriage for long-distance transport. It will offer disabled and able-bodied passengers alike a new boarding platform or new modern tables. Already this year, the first of this carriage series will be put into regular operation on lines from Prague via Brno to Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest, from Prague via Olomouc to Ostrava, Zilina and Warsaw, and from Prague to Munich.

A total of 64 carriages are slated for modernisation, and will be put into operation gradually from this autumn until 2014. The overall cost of the modernisations will reach CZK 1.5 billion (EUR 50 million), and the carriages will be put into operation on all types of long-distance connections starting with EuroCity trains and followed by express trains and inland fast trains.

CD is removing barriers

In recent years, CD has introduced many accessible trains. These include low-platform regional trains as well as carriages equipped with a boarding platform or otherwise modified to accommodate passengers using wheelchairs. At present, CD operates almost 500 accessible carriages and trains, and offers accessible travel on more than 3,000 long-distance and regional connections.

(Source: CD)